Bubble King Mini Users

[Rodrigo_BG]

Hi, I'm planning to acquire a Mini BK for my incoming SPS Nano Tank. But before that I'm looking for some reviews. Any Bubble King Mini 160/180/200 models owner could gime me your thoughts about this skimmer?

Do the price really worth it?

 

[trilinearmipmap]

Yes, it's an excellent skimmer and worth the money. I am happy with my BK Mini 180.

However you would probably find that if you are on a budget the Bubble Magus or other similar skimmers perform nearly as well or as well for much less money.

 

[TheDogFather]

I too have the BK Mini 180. Excellent skimmer, very well made and easy to clean. A+

 

[Uncle Luke]

IMO, BK's are the best skimmers on the market. You can't go wrong with
one.

 

[Rodrigo_BG]

thanks for the information guys!

Do you guys think that a Mini 160 will fit nice in a 45g sps tank or it'll be to much?

I'm looking for the best skimmer that my system can handle, but I don't want something that will not work properly due to lack of water.

 

[Uncle Luke]

If you're really set on a BK, I would absolutely not even think of going larger than a 160. It'll skim every last bit of organic in your tank.

 

[Rodrigo_BG]

If you're really set on a BK, I would absolutely not even think of going larger than a 160. It'll skim every last bit of organic in your tank.

:eek2:

better...

:inlove::inlove::inlove:

What about noise? Is it easy to set?

 

[Porcupinepuffer]

I have a 180. Do not buy it, unless you have available money left over to buy a new skimmer a couple years down the road. Motor blocks are garbage. Everything else about them is A+ Oh.. customer service is terrible too.

 

[bayoupr]

Motor blocks are laguna blocks, nothing wrong with them. There are lemmons in everything. I have never had problems with a laguna pump and I have one thats over two years old in a pond that is subject to weather conditions. The 180 gen2 kick butt, if you can afford

 

[NyReefNoob]

the 160 would be all you need for a tank that size, it is dead silent pretty much set and forget once dialed in. out of 19 skimmers ive owned this has been the best built skimmer yet,

porcupine no reason to run all over the boards bashing bk, sorry to hear about your situation. but no reason to continue bashing, it wont change the situation

 

[LifeAquatic]

There is another post in this forum about Bubble Kings being a waste of money. I have never had one personally. I guess the pump went out on his skimmer and he cant get any customer service help. He was especially mad because he paid $1200 for such a good skimmer and feels ripped off. He stated that he searched for his own pump parts and they were extremly expensive and hard to get a hold of. Just a FYI.

 

[3.99AfterTaxes]

There is another post in this forum about Bubble Kings being a waste of money. I have never had one personally. I guess the pump went out on his skimmer and he cant get any customer service help. He was especially mad because he paid $1200 for such a good skimmer and feels ripped off. He stated that he searched for his own pump parts and they were extremly expensive and hard to get a hold of. Just a FYI.

One from a sample of thousands.

Seems like a good survey.

 

[BFG]

The issue was the Red Dragon pump. This pump do not last. Those of you who had never own a Red Dragon pump will not know how someone feel when he shelled out the money to buy a premium product only to have it fail later. I am one of them and the worst part is I also have a Bubble King Super Marin 250 skimmer, that comes with the mythically named premium priced pump. My Red Dragon return pump model 8 2m3 did not last beyond 2 years and it need nearly half the cost of the same model pump brand new to repair it. "You get what you paid for" is a saying I've read through in this forum but in this case if some thing came with a mythical name, you're probably might want to give it a wide berth. I can have the spoilt pump repaired but the principal of paying for a premium product that did not last is not my cup of tea.

There are thread about this particular pump in this forum and you need to search for it. One of the original sponsor even close shop in this forum due to the high number of failed Red Dragon pump. The product do work but did not last for something that cost a premium to own.

 

[ErikS]

The issue was the Red Dragon pump. This pump do not last. Those of you who had never own a Red Dragon pump will not know how someone feel when he shelled out the money to buy a premium product only to have it fail later....................

Which gets into the other 1/2 of the equation - research. The real issue is not that the RD pumps fail it's (all pumps can fail) the fact that replacements are expensive & not easy to acquire. One needs to be aware of this issue & make a judgment accordingly.

Personally I can accept the cost of the pump, at one point the cost to replace the pump on my skimmer was close to $400 (about 30% of the skimmers cost)...................but it was not difficult to acquire - that's the deal breaker for me. I don't care how good a BK is I'll never own one for this reason alone.

My .02 - they need to step up & make the part more available.

 

[BFG]

The research was not available as it was a new product back then. A year later, a few owner had problems with the pump and when the 2 year mark roll into, more owner of the mythical named pump from all around the world have problems with the pump.

What attract me to the pump was the low wattage and I sacrificed the funds to achieve that performance but I would have never dreamt that for the price I paid, the life span of the pump was similar to an infant. I would be happy if it reaches the 5 year mark but that will happen while the pump sits in the plastic bag under my bed. And the best part is for my case, my local Royal Exclusiv distributor told me the warranty was for 1 year only, not 2 like it was claimed by other here. How do you think I feel?

 

[ErikS]

........... How do you think I feel?

Same as I'd feel, PO'd. I agree with you, it's BS.

Unfortunately the situation has not changed. I saw the first unit imported into the US, so rare it was taken off line to be displayed @ MACNA. While it was amazing (quiet, great performance) it wasn't long afterword that it became talked about that while RD pumps don't often fail if they do it was very difficult to obtain a replacement (and horribly expensive).

It would seem it's not changed & given the time frame it looks like it never will. It's the primary reason I chose an Eheim based skimmer - best? nope. Most efficient? Nope. But the pump has a long history of reliability.

Personally I think Royal Exclusiv should either step up & make parts readily available or get out of the game - they are doing customers a disservice.

 

[Porcupinepuffer]

One from a sample of thousands.

Seems like a good survey.

One from a thousand? Possibly. But are there even a thousand bubbleking 180's that are 2 years old running in the US? If so, I'd like to hear from each of them. There's really not many people that do have them.

 

[cobra9]

I would say there many more then a thousand. And if you just talk about the red dragon pumps many more. The whole alpha line runs with them.

As far as parts and replacement pumps. It really depends on who you buy from. I know if you buy from premium they have been very good at getting people any replacement parts. Always buy from a quality vendor that backs there products.

As far as BFG's issue there was a bad set of pumps sent out to asia. Bubble king acknowledged it and sent out replacements. People where complaining but what is bubble king supposed to do? They sent out the replacement parts to the distributors. Its there job to get it to the customer.

 

[BFG]

As far as BFG's issue there was a bad set of pumps sent out to asia. Bubble king acknowledged it and sent out replacements. People where complaining but what is bubble king supposed to do? They sent out the replacement parts to the distributors. Its there job to get it to the customer.

That was for the controllable pump which is now replaced by another pump. I remembered only 16 were made and 1 of the owner from Thailand complained about the length of time this pump was able to operate and it was for a few month before it konk out. That person has moved on if I'm not wrong.

My issue was that the lfs told me it was for a year warranty, not 2 years as claimed by other and I was told that it cost nearly half of a brand new pump to get it repaired. Whether it was a year or 2 for the warranty and I need to cough out money to repair a premium pump, in principal, I would not want to pay for repair for a premium pump that did not last. Royal Exclusiv must make it right for my situation. It has been a few years since then and I am not going to keep quiet about their pump issue.

 

[saltwaterman112]

+1 seems my pump on my 180 failed. Not even two years old. Where do they sell replacements.